ByJonathan Kaminsky, ReutersJune 23, 2014

New Orleans —
The nephew of "Duck Dynasty" reality TV personality Phil Robertson said last week that he would run for the U.S. House of Representatives in northeastern Louisiana as a conservative Republican.The entry of 36-year-old political newcomer Zach Dasher into the race for the seat of Representative Vance McAllister, who was rocked by a sex scandal earlier this year, will test the Robertson clan's clout in Louisiana's largely rural 5th District.

On his Twitter account Saturday, Dasher announced an appearance on the Sean Hannity Show Monday night.

"My basic platform begins with God," Dasher said in a phone interview. "I want to go to D.C. to restore America to what she once was."Similarly he tweeted:

Dasher, who is on leave from his sales job at a pharmaceutical company, said he was running with the full backing of his family members made famous by the A&E program "Duck Dynasty," based on their business selling duck hunting supplies.

"Uncle Phil said he's vetted me for 36 years," Dasher said, referring to company founder Phil Robertson, who was briefly suspended from the show last year after making anti-gay remarks.

Members of the Robertson family were not immediately available for comment, a publicist said.

McAllister, a first-term conservative Republican, was aided in his 2013 special election victory by public support from Willie Robertson, another star of the "Duck Dynasty" program.

The political future of the married McAllister was thrown into doubt earlier this year after a video of him kissing a female staffer was made public.

He said in April he would not seek re-election but has since said he is leaving his options open, the Lafayette-based Daily Advertiser newspaper reported.

A spokeswoman for McAllister did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Christian Science Monitor reported that "If there’s a lesson here, it’s that local politics can be a complicated story line. The Robertson clan has faced national criticism for its patriarch’s anti-gay views. Has this made its endorsement worth less? Meanwhile, McAllister is a rare House Republican who has come out in favor of expansion of Medicaid, which would help his disproportionately poor district. Will this boost his chances of scandal survival?:"(Additional reporting by Lisa Bose McDermott in Texarkana, Arkansas; Writing by Jonathan Kaminsky; Editing by Peter Cooney)